Sunday, March 6, 2016

Eating or even smelling foods can bring you back to a certain memory or place in time. To most people, homemade cookies remind them of their childhood. Back then, our palates craved the simple flavors. We were not quite ready for Chili Chocolate Macarons and mom was not about to spend a lot of long hours in the kitchen making cookies.

Of course, the cookies that were in the cookie jar were drop cookies. We all know they are about the easiest cookies to make. They may be easy, but these type of cookies are traditional favorites, such as chocolate chip or oatmeal. This particular recipe is a delicious blend of two classic kind of cookies: chocolate chip oatmeal and peanut butter.

They are not heavy on the oatmeal like a standard oatmeal cookie, but the end result is a good balance between both textures and flavor. Also, they stand up well when shipped or dunked in a glass of ice cold milk.

The instructions below are for about 4 dozen cookies. Enough to spread around or to store for later, depending on the size of your family.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Fill the bowl of a stand mixer with peanut butter and butter. Beat until fluffy and smooth. Scrape down the sides and add the brown sugar and continue to beat until thoroughly blended.

Add both eggs and vanilla to the butter mixture. Then mix at medium speed for about 1 minute. After blended, beat in 1/2 cup of sifted ingredients and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue with the process until all the dry blend is incorporated into the cookie dough. Remove bowl from stand mixer.

Using a wooden spoon, mix in the oats and then the milk chocolate chips/chunks. Using a scoop or a spoon, drop dough onto prepared baking sheet. Space about 2 inches apart. Place in oven and bake until edges of cookies are golden brown, which is about 10-12 minutes.

After you remove them from the oven, place baking sheet on rack to let rest for 1 minute. Then transfer cookies to cooling rack and let cool completely.

Tips and Notes:
1. I use parchment to preserve my cookie sheets, however, this recipe states use un-greased baking sheets-so either is an option.

2. Natural peanut butter can be used, however, it does not have a stabilizer to keep the oil from separating. Therefore, it will need to be well blended before adding it as an ingredient.**LAST YEAR:Pineapple Macadamia Tart**